cooking with cat
by Salmon Cat
Summary: In which Cat tries to bake and Sam helps get it on video for Cat's school project. A cheeky Puckentine one-shot.


**A/N: Here's a one-shot I thought I'd try. It's Sam and Cat cooking (well, baking) together! I thought I'd give that a shot since I was kind of bored of the usual watching movies thing, and it's supposed to be cutesy and everything, but what do I know. Read and decide for yourself? : )**

* * *

"Greetings, people of Hollywood Arts," Cat spoke, her voice airy as ever. She gestured at the kitchen behind her. There were little bowls, a couple of pans, a spatula, a lot of spoons, some cups, and some plates arranged neatly on the counter. "And welcome to my kitchen."

She took a step back for dramatic effect.

"Sam," she whispered. "You have to zoom in!"

Sam raised her head from the video camera's viewfinder. "Huh?"

She was standing a few feet away from Cat, trying to get everything on video like she was told to. Cat had convinced her to help her out with a school project in which she was required to do a tutorial video on anything she liked. In return for the little favor, Cat had promised Sam that she could have the whole red velvet bowlcake-pudding she would be making, all to herself. Sam thought this was a fair enough deal, and besides, she kind of knows the basics of shooting and video editing from when she did iCarly. How hard could it be, really.

"You have to zoom in," Cat repeated, still whispering. "You have to follow me so they can see me!"

"Why are you whispering?" Sam asked, amused. She took a step forward, closer to Cat, readjusting the video camera on her shoulder. "You know we can just edit this out, right?"

Cat seemed to ponder that for a moment before looking right into the camera and saying, innocent as always, "I thought this was a live show."

...

"Alright, kid," Sam said, exhaling nervously. She patted the empty space on the floor next to her. On the other side, the video camera lay dead after a couple hours of transferring the footage they got. In front of her is Cat's PearBook, where the raw footage is ready, waiting to be played. Sam herself hasn't seen it entirely, but she was eager to sit down and watch it with Cat after all that messy fun they had in the kitchen. "This one's still unedited, so you tell me which parts you don't want and we'll cut it out for ya, okay?"

Cat took her seat next to her, crosslegged and excited. She was actually bouncing on the carpeted bedroom floor. "Kaykay," she nodded.

Sam took a glance at her friend, a deep breath, and hit the 'Play' button.

"Ooh, that's me," Cat pointed, doing a light applause for herself.

"That's you, kid," Sam agreed, smiling.

**...**

_The frame zooms in on Cat as she tries to break an egg by hitting it lightly on the side of the counter. She knocks it repeatedly onto the counter, softly, all delicate and child-like._

_"Maybe try again, a little harder," Sam's voice suggests, coming from behind the camera._

_"Like this?" Cat asks, looking up to the camera and knocking the egg only slightly harder than before._

_Sam sighs, and then the camera is put down sideways on the counter. Sam takes the egg from Cat and we see her hands as she slams the egg on the edge of the counter. The egg broke right in the middle, and the yolk splattered down to the floor, out of the frame. Sam hit too hard._

_ "Sam!"_

_Cat bends down to check the mess, out of the frame._

_"Eh, we still got more eggs, right?"_

_Sam picks up the camera off the counter and points it to Cat, who's trying to wipe off the yolk mess on the floor using her apron._

_"Dude, that's gross," Sam deadpans, zooming in on the yolky mess on the floor and Cat's hands. "Just get on with it, we'll clean it up later."_

_Cat gets up as Sam zooms out, the front of Cat's apron all sticky and yellow and wet._

_Sam follows Cat's hand as she successfully breaks an egg this time, pouring its contents into a bowl. The egg yolk dances in the egg white a little as it lands on the plastic bowl._

_"And then," Cat narrates, "We get some flour..."_

_The camera swings away from Cat to the sack of flour on the floor. Sam zooms in._

_"Wait—Sam, focus on me so they can see me picking it up!"_

_"Alright, alright..."_

_Cat stoops down to try and lift the sack, but of course it was too much for her petite figure. Sam's sigh is audible once more as the camera is again put down, sideways on the counter. We hear a soft groan as Sam hoists the the sack and lets it drop onto the counter._

_The camera is back on Sam's shoulder._

_Cat struggles to open the sack. Sam zooms in on Cat's strained face, her eyebrows all furrowed and her teeth clenched. Sam stifles a laugh as the camera shakes a little._

_"Pull on it, tighter," Sam says._

_Cat does as she's told, and POOF!_

_The sack opens with a soft bang, spouting out flour right onto Cat's face. Cat's eyes were closed right on time, but she has flour in her nose and on her eyebrows and eyelashes, like some homemade snow._

_The camera is super unstable on Sam's shoulder as she cackles in the background, the camera swinging up and down._

_Cat sputters the flour all over her mouth. "I think we need to, um, take five," she says softly._

_"No, no, you look great," Sam replies._

_"I look stoopid!"_

_"No, I'm serious, you look fine!"_

_Sam goes up to Cat, the camera pointing at Cat's face. Sam's hand appears from under the frame and wipes some of the flour on Cat's cheek, although that doesn't help much. Instead, Cat looks like she failed to even out her powder or something._

_"Better?" Cat asks._

_"Best."_

**...**

"What, you looked great!" Sam said, laughing.

The video is on pause. Cat had her hands to her cheeks, embarrassed. Of course, now that they're in the bedroom, they're all cleaned up from the shower, but Cat didn't know she'd been doing the rest of the video with flour on her face, and they were only fifteen minutes in.

"Besides, you got your revenge," Sam added.

**...**

_"Are you sure I shouldn't clean up? My apron's all dirty..."_

_"No, it's fine," Sam assures. "It's art or whatever, right?"_

_Cat smiles at the camera, "Fine..."_

_Sam zooms out as Cat spoons the flour into another bowl. Cat turns to the camera and wipes her forehead, smearing the flour all over her already messy face. "And now, we get the milk. For the, um, the pudding."_

**...**

"Let's skip this part, it was boring," Cat said, pausing the video yet again.

"Wait, no, why?" Sam asked, pulling Cat's hand away from the laptop's trackpad. "I did such amazing camerawork for when you were pouring the milk!"

"What..." Cat raised an eyebrow, "It's just my face, you didn't even focus on the milk!" She hovers the mouse over the scroller thing where you get to jump into parts of the video, and sure enough, the thumbnails were all of Cat's flour-full face. Sometimes her eyes, sometimes her smile, but mostly her whole face. "See?"

Sam took hold of the laptop and looked away from Cat, running the scroller to a different part of the video. Further away from the milk part. She didn't know this, but Cat was staring intently at her as she was doing so, confused at the sudden silence.

**...**

_"Oh, you guys, in case you're wondering, my cameragirl is my good friend Sam Puckle," Cat says to the camera as she stirs whatever's in one of the bowls, spilling flour to the apron and to the floor._

_Sam sighs. "It's Puckett..."_

_"Puckle sounds nicer," Cat argues, putting down the bowl on the counter, still smiling. "It suits the cooking theme more."_

_"That doesn't even make sense," Sam says. Her hand again reappears from the bottom part of the frame. It points towards a bowl next to the two pans near the stove. "Is that the one with chocolate?"_

_Cat looks back to see, and nods. "Yep."_

_"So... shouldn't you have mixed that with that?" Sam swings the camera from the bowl of chocolate to another bowl on the counter._

_Cat gasps. The camera swings back to her just in time to see her disappointed face._

_"Hey, it's fine, you can mix that somewhere else," Sam reassures, moving towards the stove to get the bowl of chocolate. She zooms in momentarily on the bowl of melted chocolate, and then her hand goes to pick it up. "Or..."_

_"Or what?" Cat asks._

_The camera zooms in on Cat's face as Sam's hand shoots from the right side of the frame, her finger pointed and dipped in the chocolate. "Or, we could do this," she says, all mischievous. The camera shakes a little as Sam touches her chocolate-coated finger onto Cat's cheek. She makes a chocolatey line on Cat's cheek, the dark brown standing out on the floured face._

_"Sam!" Cat yelled, wiping off the chocolate from her cheek, smearing it even further. She pouts at the camera, and begins walking towards it, determined._

_"What?" Sam's voice asks, nervous. She takes a step back as Cat comes closer. "What are you doing?"_

_Cat breaks into a childish grin, and lunges forward, at the camera. At Sam._

_"No—Cat, wait!"_

_"You started it..."_

_"Cat, I'm gonna drop this—"_

_"See if you like this..."_

_And the rest is a mess, a jumble of arms and hair—red and blond. Sam yelps as Cat bumps onto her, the camera nearly knocked off her shoulder. She stumbles backwards and trips, falling, landing on her butt. Cat jumps onto her, her hands stretched for the bowl of chocolate Sam is trying so hard to protect._

_"Cat, you're literally on me!"_

_The camera is put down yet again, just not sideways this time, on the floor. The frame shows a profile shot of Sam, lying face up, as Cat sits there on her thighs._

_Cat tries to make contact to Sam's face with her chocolate-smeared hand, giggling and squealing. Sam tries to wrestle her off her, evidently without using too much force._

_And then Sam gives in. She lets Cat smack her flat on both cheeks with chocolate. Sam closes her eyes and breathes in._

_Cat pulls her arms back, like she realizes what a big mistake she just did. She stares, unsure, at Sam, who finally opens her eyes, exhaling. "Are you done? Is it my turn yet?" she asks, smiling wide._

_"No!" Cat wails and gets off Sam, trying to run away, but Sam has a hold on her legs._

_The rest is out of frame as the audio implies a noisy struggle between Sam and Cat._

**...**

"That's when I got you good in the face," Sam pointed as the video plays on, the two of them still out of frame. "I don't even know what that was."

"It was supposed to be our pudding!" Cat snapped, pushing Sam away from her. But she was smiling too. "Oh, my God! Look, look!" She pointed to the screen.

**...**

_Cat is back in the frame, sitting crosslegged against the counter, breathing fast. Her face and hair is an absolute mess. All kinds of baking ingredients smeared and splattered over her face, her hair a mess of red and white, and chocolate._

_Sam crawls into the frame, also breathing fast._

_"Do you give up?" Sam asks, taking a seat next to Cat, grinning at her. Sam was barely looking blonde. It kind of looks like Cat had thrown the whole bowl of chocolate at her head or something._

_"I give up," Cat sighs. "I give up."_

_Sam looks at her for a few seconds, trying to pick at a layer of chocolate drying on the knee of her jeans. "What do we do about your project now?"_

_Cat shrugs. "I know a bakery nearby that sells red velvet cake..." she says, smiling up at Sam._

_"What are you suggesting?" Sam asks, her eyebrows raised._

_"I suggest, we buy the cake instead of making it," Cat says, grinning. "We'd never be able to bake a cake on our own!"_

_Sam beams at her, crawling towards the camera to pick it up. "Kid, I love your style!"_

**...**

"So we're going tomorrow?" Sam asked, turning to Cat as the video ends. "To the bakery, I mean."

"Sure," Cat shrugged, smiling.

Sam got to her feet, carrying Cat's laptop with her. "Well, I better get to work, then."

"You're editing it now?" Cat asked, getting up too.

"Yeah, it's already pretty late, we wasted too much time showering," Sam replied. "This would take a while."

"Well, maybe—" Cat started, looking down.

"Maybe what?"

"Maybe you don't have to edit it out," Cat finished, all coy and timid.

"What are you talking about," Sam snorted, "Your teacher wouldn't accept this, it's basically us... frolicking around in the kitchen, or whatever."

"Yeah, I guess..." Cat agreed. "But you know, I had a lot of fun today. I want to keep all that, for memories."

Sam put down the laptop on her bed and went to Cat. "Hey, kid, I had a lot of fun too. If I pulled any of that stuff at Carly's, she'd hate me."

"But I'm not Carly," she replied, her face looking downcast.

"I know, that's why you're Cat Valentine," Sam said, punching Cat lightly on the shoulder. "And I like you for it. You're different."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means, you're different in a good way," Sam explained. "It means, I don't care what you're like, I like you."

Cat gasped in delight and jumped forward to hug Sam. "I like you too, Sam!"

They stood there, Cat hugging Sam in the quiet, and Sam awkwardly returning the hug with one stiff arm. And then Sam remembered something.

"Hey, Cat..." Sam said.

Cat let go, smiling up at her, her eyes wide, staring at Sam in admiration. "Yeah?"

"I still think, uh, I should at least edit out the parts where I—you know—zoomed in on your face and stuff," Sam mumbled, avoiding Cat's big brown eyes.

"Oh, Sam..." Cat said, shaking her head and walking to her side of the room, hopping onto her bed. She cradled Mr Giraffe in her arms, smiling at Sam, giggling. "You're so _cute_."

* * *

**Yeah, sorry it's kind of lame towards the end... I wasn't sure if I should end this with them acknowledging their feelings to each other, or just them letting it hang out, with this weird tension between them because they already know something's up. Maybe for another story?**

**Let me know if you want an additional chapter to serve as an epilogue or something, I don't know. Regardless, I hope you guys enjoyed this little thing I cooked up for ya : )**


End file.
